1850 New York gubernatorial election

none January 2025 January 2025 1850 New York gubernatorial election New York 1778 Presidential no 1848 New York gubernatorial election 1848 1852 New York gubernatorial election 1852 November 5, 1850 x150px Washington Hunt Whig Party (United States) Anti-Rent 214,614 49.64% x150px Horatio Seymour Democratic Party (United States) Union Party (United States, 1850) 214,352 49.58% 1850 New York gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 300px County resultsHunt: #FED463 50–60% #FE9929 60–70% Seymour: #A5B0FF 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674DE 60–70% Governor Hamilton Fish Whig Party (United States) Washington Hunt Whig Party (United States) The 1850 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1850. Incumbent Governor Hamilton Fish was not a candidate for re-election. Washington Hunt was elected to succeed him, defeating Horatio Seymour in the latter's first run for governor. Seymour would go on to serve two terms in office and be nominated for President of the United States in 1868. Democratic nomination Background Following defeats in the Barnburner and Hunker factions reconciled in 1849. However, their joint ticket was only partly successful, as the Anti-Rent endorsement still controlled in 1849; anti-Rent candidates won every state office. Results At a convention in Syracuse on September 11, the Democrats nominated former Hunker Horatio Seymour for governor and former Barnburners for the remaining offices. Whig nomination The Whig state convention met on September 27 in Utica; Francis Granger presided. After nominating Hunt, the majority passed a resolution thanking the state's junior U.S. senator William H. Seward for "the signal ability with which he has sustained ... those beloved principles of public policy so long cherished by the Whigs of the Empire State,"—a clear reference to Seward's opposition to the Compromise of 1850. In protest, Granger and other pro-Compromise allies of president Millard Fillmore withdrew from the convention. The conservative faction became known as the Silver Grays after Granger's white hair.Holt 1999 588 The Silver Grays reconvened at Utica on October 17; Granger again presided. In the interim, Hunt had issued a statement accepting the Compromise while calling for "essential modifications" of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Satisfied, the convention reaffirmed the original nominations.Holt 1999 591 Some conservative Whigs still refused to support Hunt, however. These individuals threw their support behind the Democratic candidate for governor, Horatio Seymour, in hopes of initiating a political realignment in which pro-Compromise Whigs and Democrats would unite in a new Union Party. The New York Journal of Commerce printed a Union ticket headed by Seymour in advance of a Union Safety meeting held at Castle Garden in late October. The meeting adopted resolutions approving of the Compromise and vowing never to vote for any candidate known to be hostile to any of the Compromise measures, including the Fugitive Slave Act—a pledge that targeted Hunt specifically. Antislavery Whigs denounced the meeting as a transparent attempt to divide the Whig Party and elect Seymour under the guise of Unionism.Holt 1999 591–92 General election Candidates William L. Chaplin, general agent of the New York Anti-Slavery Society (Liberty)During the campaign and election, Chaplin was imprisoned in Washington, DC for his role in aiding the escape of two slaves, Allen and Garland H. White, owned by U.S. Representatives Alexander Stephens and Robert Toombs, respectively. Washington Hunt, New York Comptroller (Whig and Anti-Rent) Horatio Seymour, former Speaker of the New York Assembly and mayor of Utica (Democratic and Union) Results Hunt won the election with one of the smallest majorities in New York history, only 262 votes. Four out of five candidates on the cross-endorsed Anti-Rent ticket were elected, showing their still present but waning influence. 1850 New York gubernatorial electionhttps://books.google.com/books?id=5SY1AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA367 Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York 1852 367 Washington Hunt Whig Party (United States) 214,614 49.64% 2.09 Horatio Seymour Democratic Party (United States) 214,352 49.57% 24.18 William L. Chaplin Liberty Party (United States, 1840) 3,416 0.79% 0.44 432,382 100.00% See also New York gubernatorial elections New York state elections Notes References Bibliography Dearstyne Bruce W. 2015 The Spirit of New York: Defining Events in the Empire State's History https://books.google.com/books?id=9tiUBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 Albany, NY State University of New York Press 56 978-1-4384-5659-1 Google Books Holt Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War 1999 Oxford University Press New York https://archive.org/details/risefallofameric0000holt_a7l7 Jenkins John S. 1850 History of Political Parties in the State of New-York https://books.google.com/books?id=MWQqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA466 Alden & Markham 466 Jenkins John S. 1851 Lives of the governors of the state of New York https://archive.org/details/livesgovernorss00jenkgoog 724 Auburn, NY Derby and Miller 1850 New York Gubernatorial election Category:November 1850